Tonight at 6:55 p.m. ET, St. Joseph's (24-9, 11-5 A 10) and UConn (26-8, 12-6 AAC) tipoff live from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo for March Madness Round 2 action as part of the Eastern bracket. The game can be live streamed for free here. St. Joseph's fans can hear all of the action on Sports Radio 610 WIP while UConn fans can do the same on WTIC 1080.
UConn returns to the NCAA tournament after missing out on it last year, and 71-year-old former coach Bill Calhoun will be in the stands watching his hand-picked successor Kevin Ollie look to lead the team passed St. Joseph's after health issues forced Calhoun out of his job from behind the bench.
Calhoun is happy to look on with pride and has nothing but praise for Ollie.
"He's taken it over. He's done a wonderful job," said Calhoun, who has assumed the role of special adviser to the athletic director, according to ESPN. "I'm really proud of him."
Ollie shares a special relationship with Calhoun and is happy to have the former coach there to root his team on.
"Coach Calhoun is like a father figure to me," Ollie told ESPN. "I never went in there like I'm going to fill those shoes and try to be coach Calhoun. I've got to be Kevin Ollie."
Star senior guard Shabazz Napier told ESPN that he still seeks advice from Calhoun whenever he can.
"He's there for everybody. I take full advantage of it," Napier said via ESPN. "He's a smart guy. You don't have to be a scientist to know that."
Following a blowout loss to Villanova on Dec. 7, St. Joe's has gone 20-5 and won three straight games to claim their first A-10 title since 1997.
Halil Kanacevic said that the team was motivated after being blown out by rival Villanova.
"We hated having that feeling," Kanacevic, who earned A-10 tournament MVP honors, said per ESPN. "That was probably the worst feeling we've had since we've been here. We didn't want to go out like that."
A year after UConn was barred from tournament play due to academic sanctions, the team looks to fly high.
"I didn't watch the tournament. I was watching other things," Napier said of last year's March Madness. "But it fueled a lot of motivation and hunger to get where we're at now."
Napier leads the Huskies in scoring (17.4 points), assists (4.9) and steals (1.7).
The Huskies 2004 tournament win started out in Buffalo, and the team could experience deja vu if it manages to advance tonight and ends up winning it all. The team, of course, will have to avoid going one-and-done as it did last time it was in the tournament.
St. Joe's and UConn take the court tonight in Buffalo as part of the 2014 March Madness NCAA tournament.
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